Spaces of denial and denial of place : the architectural geography of homelessness in Victoria, BC

Abstract:

This thesis documents and highlights - within the context of other exclusionary practices - some of the spatial and architectural strategies deployed by the government and the privileged classes to exclude and evict homeless citizens from the spaces of the city. Although various spatial scales are incorporated into the argument - from the national to the municipal - this investigation focuses primarily on the Capital Region of British Columbia and the City of Victoria, where much of the statistical and empirical research has been gleaned. Through the implementation of regressive legislation, oppressive urban planning, and exclusionary architectural design, the visible and abject homeless body is systematically concealed, wrongfully prohibited, or violently evicted from private and public space. Indeed, not only are homeless citizens denied a fundamental right to a private space of secure, adequate, and affordable housing, they are also denied fundamental political and physical rights to the public spaces of the city.